Izabella (The Bloodstone, #1) ✓

Slinging the duffle bag over my shoulder, I walked down the corridors leading to the Alpha’s quarters, knowing exactly where Basil was. I was expecting him to greet me outside the pack-house but Elizabeth told me that he’d been in his room for most of the day. She also went on to say he hadn’t been himself since I left. I knew that feeling too well. Those past few days without him left me reeling with need. My skin was damp from my heat, the needed to mate leaving me a flustered mess. Every single each of me ached with want but I wanted no one else but him, my mate.

I entered without knocking and stopped in my tracks when I stared into the green orbs that I’d never thought I’d see - at least, not in reality. My shoulders weakened and my bag dropped to the ground, shock taking control of my body as I gaped at him. Didn’t he need my soul to gain his humanity? A mixture of excitement and confusion but then that all went to dust when he spoke.

“They’re contacts,” he answered my unspoken question. “I needed to interact with humans when talking to the wolves at the police station. Didn’t want to freak them out,”

“Oh,” I said simply like as if I wasn’t affected but the green contacts that looked so much like his human. But I was. He took them off and made it seem so simple than it actually was. He grinned at me, a full blown grin that shot an arrow through my heart that I didn’t think I could ever recover from.

“My Moon,” he chuckled, opening up his arms. “I’ve missed you,”

Beaming from ear to ear, I ran into his welcoming arms and crashed into his chest, wrapping my legs around his waist and met his lips in a wet, sloppy kiss. My moans mingled with his as I tasted the distinct flavour of beer on his tongue and he gripped the roots of my hair, angling my head so he’d deepen the kiss. I licked his bottom lip, sucking it gently and his growl resonated through me.

Rubbing my core against his hardened length, I fought to get his clothes off, ripping off a couple of buttons that flung to the ground. His chest shook with a low rumbled as he grabbed both of my wrists, stopping my mission with ease.

Whining, I stared at him.

“Wait until the Moon’s up,” he rasped and kissed my knuckles to ease the blow. “I want to be inside you when the Moon’s up.”

Sighing, I cocked my head to the side. I remembered him saying my fertility was the highest under the Moon. I also remembered him saying we could have pups when I was ready. “I thought we’re gonna wait for pups?”

“Not pups,” He kissed the bridge of my nose. “When She’s at her highest peak, that’s when we both feel the most pleasure. I’m trying to control every impulse in me not to rip your clothes apart.”

I kissed his lips endlessly and nuzzled my nose with his. “I don’t know how much longer I can wait.”

“I’ve got something I want to do,”

He patted my butt and I dropped to my feet. Taking my hand, he guided me out of the room, down the corridors to the back garden door. We trudged through the grass to the towering woods. We took a left, following a dirt path that was familiar but I couldn’t pinpoint where or why I saw this.

The further we were, the clearer my memory was. This was the first time I saw the ghost of his sister. My heart rate sped up and he picked up on this. Squeezing my hand, instantly, my heart relaxed back into its normal heart rate.

“What are we doing?” I asked in a low voice. He paused for a second, pinning me with his glacier gaze. They darted to the crook of my neck, where his mark was.

“Not only are we bound together by life but in death. I don’t want you to enter the ancestral realm when we pass,”

I furrowed my brows. “I want to be with you in life and death.”

“Not in the place where people like me go,” he smiled bitterly. “My birth-pack, they are not at peace. Despite the visions you see of my human, he’s not at peace. I’ve done many bad things in life to be thrown into the darkest parts without any remorse. Where they are is no place for the likes of you. You belong with the Moon.”

“I am the Moon,” I declared, scowling at him. “We will be together in the after-life. No matter what you did previously, Basil, my sweet wolf, you will find peace.”

I touched his cheek, rising to my toes so our foreheads would meet. We scented each other as we took in what was said between us. My words will come to pass; I knew this because I could see it. All the years of agony and loss he’d been through over the years will melt away once he passed on. He didn’t complain further about this but believed me. He scrutinised me in complete awe, almost as if I wasn’t Izabella but just Her. His hands trembled when they encased mine once again, and we continued further down the path to a spot where grass did grow as much as it did in its surroundings.

I figured it didn’t since Basil dug deep into the earth and extracted an old dirt skull and a necklace full of old, yellowing teeth. Freaked, I stepped back but he held up his hand to placate me.

“Don’t be afraid, I didn’t kill anyone for this,” I couldn’t keep my eyes from the bones. “It’s the link to the ancestral realm, a way I can communicate with my family,”

Hesitantly, I nodded, swallowing a large stuck in my throat. Basil lowered it to the ground and reached for his back pocket, pulling out a switch-knife. The smell of blood saturated my lungs when he sliced his skin on his palms and his face tightened against the pain.

Blood splattered to the ground and he moved his arm to make sure there was an equal distribution. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he whispered something foreign and it was so low, I couldn’t even try an attempt to understand what language he was speaking in. It wasn’t like the ones I heard him speak before. Suddenly, the air went icy gold, chilling me to my very core. I rubbed both my arms to trap some warmth but I couldn’t help but shiver violently.

I saw a figure in the distance that wasn’t there before. It wasn’t human, I could tell they the revolting odour of decay, and the dull grey colour of lifelessness marring his skin. Despite this, his skin tone wasn’t the rich caramel brown of Basil’s but it was slightly dark. If I could guess, he had some African American blood in him. It was a guy, probably nearly two decades younger than Basil. Perhaps that was his form that he passed in. His hair was longer than Basil but pulled back into a single braid. The eyes were what got me – soulless and eerie – which caused my skin to tingle with trepidation.

Basil didn’t look worried. Instead, he straightened his posture, facing the figure fully.

“Micco,”

He looked at me, holding out his hand with a silent command and I took it, slowly coming to his side. Holding his fingers in a vice grip, I stared at Micco – presumably, his brother as they had similar features – didn’t bother batting an eyelash in Basil’s direction. They were trained on me.

“You won’t have her,” Basil said loudly, grabbing his attention. “Her soul is not for trade,”

At this, Micco turned his attention to Basil. A long stretch of silence rolled by before either of them said anything. Micco took a step forward my way and Basil pushed me behind him, shielding me.

“Our land will die, your flesh will perish if we do not have her.”

What? I snapped my gawk at Basil, willing him to look at me. He never told me this; he never said anything about his soul perishing or land dying. He kept his eyes forward, refusing to look at me. Frustrated, I tugged his hand but he only held on tighter.

“She’s not the solution. I serve her,” he jerked his chin at me. “I serve the Moon. Whatever is lost will be reunited with the Moon.”

Micco didn’t say anything but retreated into the fog floating around the darkening forest. Dusk settled over the hills, the shadows circling around us adding an ominous feel to everything. Basil’s brother disappeared and he sucked in a deep breath, burying the bones back into the earth.

He didn’t say anything when we went back to the pack-house and quite honestly, I didn’t want to ask. I felt his sadness as it was mine. Knowing what he knew before The Bloodstone, and The Nobles may be nothing but a distant memory.

Their land will die.

He valued my life so much that he’d sacrifice his family, the only people he clung to despite years of solitude and desolation. He wasn’t alone. He had me and his own pack that stood by him. He rose from the ashes and built a community for the loss and the rejected and proved to us he was an Alpha worthy to be noticed.

We joined the pack and their activities, visiting each and every wolf. It was a routine we adopted together since I came to The Bloodstone. From what I heard, Basil never really did that before and I told him it was important to stay connected to the pack on a personal level. Not only did show we cared for them but we can see first-hand if any improvements were needed.

We went to the children centre and interacted with the kids. What was more interesting was Basil with the kids. He was tender with them, so tender I was in complete awe. At first sight, he looked intimidating, imposing and when I met him in the beginning, he wasn’t the most approachable wolf.

It’d put everything into perspective. He did want pups for the sake of it, he truly cared for them.

With fall approaching, there were submission entries to train in the military for The Nobles. We went through every single request and approved for those who we believed would benefit the wolves. Of course, we weren’t going to send them off to the investigation but instead, they were filling the places of those who had been sent away. The attack on The Midnight Moon only proved that we all needed to be on guard at all times. We’d been too comfortable. That was going to be the first and last time we’d let humans bring harm to our race.

Night fell sooner than we anticipated and we entered the woods once again. This time, we went much further than the last time we mated under the Moon. I snuck my hands into his, curling my fingers around his large ones and he squeezed them before bringing it to his lips. We might as well be permanently attached because that was what we always did. I loved the way my nerves buzzed with anticipation when our skin touched and feeling his rough fingers clashing with my soft ones.

We found the perfect spot and he didn’t waste any time to kiss me into stupidity. I lost any cognitive thought and my brain went mush and sunk into his hard, warm chest, sucking his plush rough lips that always made my heart flutter. Slowly, we fell to our knees and Basil moved forward so that I was forced onto my back.

Raining kisses down my neck up to the curves of my breast, I bowed my back, sighing as relief settled over me. My heated skin cooled at his touch but it wasn’t enough to ease the pain completely. I clawed at his back frantically but he held my wrists, pinning them to my side. He licked my jaw and then slipped his tongue in my mouth.

Content filled me at this and our tongues dances sensually, needy as we desperately tried to catch a moment of bliss. He pulled away, gazing into my eyes. His were soft, filled with adoration and awe. It was raw and untainted that I could weep with joy.

“I love you, Basil,” I declared in a whisper, holding his face in my arms.

“Moon of my life,” He groaned, resting his forehead on mine. “My centre and my universe,”

That was all that needed to be said between us and despite the challenges that are ahead, I knew in my heart that things would be okay.

We would be okay.

The End

Basil, book 2, is now live on FindNovel.net!

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